1856.] Alfred von Kremer^s edition of Wdqidy. 217 



in which both 'Orwah and Zohry must have been in possession of 

 more genuine information than the one which they communicate to 

 their readers. Both 'Orwah and Zohry were great admirers of 

 poetry. The former repeated after every tradition some national 

 verses to mix the utile with the dulce, and perhaps also in explana- 

 tion of the tradition, and the latter used to say, when he sat down 

 to deliver his lectures, Now let us hear your traditions and the 

 poetry, which you know. This leads us to suppose that not only 

 many edifying legends but also a great part of the poetical history 

 adverted to in the introduction to this article, owes its currency 

 to these two men. For a long time I subscribed to the high opinion, 

 which Bokhary, Moslims, and other authors entertain of these two 

 men, but a deeper study of the sources caused me to alter it. I 

 must bring here another Father of the Moslim church to the notice 

 of the reader, who belongs to the same class. This is Sa'yd b. Mo- 

 sayyab, who died shortly after A. H. 90. His son Mohammad, who 

 repeats only what he heard from his father, gave currency to the 

 elegies of the daughters of Abu Talib adverted to above. It is 

 very likely, that these men are not the inventors of stories or poetry, 

 but only preferred legends to true history. But to Anas b. Malik, 

 who was ten years the servant of the prophet, and died in 92, up- 

 wards of one hundred years of age ; Abu Horayrah, Ibn 'Abbas, 

 and some other companions of the prophet, we must apply the very 

 hardest epithets. There are stories of miracles attributed to them, 

 which have been handed down by several independent isnads, whereby 

 the invention is brought home to them. And it cannot be said that 

 they have been deceived, because Anas and also the others profess 

 in many instances to have been eye-witnesses. As it is of great 

 importance to know the character of the witnesses, I intend to 

 embrace the first opportunity which I may have to publish the notes 

 which I have collected on the inventors of miracles and of legends 

 regarding MoAammad. The literary history of those days deserves to 

 be carefully investigated for its interest both as regards the biography 

 of Mohammad, and in regard to the development of his doctrines. 

 Mr. W. Muir has lately published a very valuable pamphlet : " The 

 testimony borne by the Qoran to the Jewish and Christian scrip- 

 tures." From the passages which he collected, it appears that Mo- 



